Article for footwear that prevents a wearer&#39;s foot from slipping out of the footwear

ABSTRACT

An article for footwear that prevents a wearer&#39;s foot from slipping out of the footwear is disclosed herein. The footwear article of the present invention also provides aesthetic changes to the footwear to allow matching of different outfit and dress occasions

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of U.K. Patent Application Number1310057.3 filed on Jun. 5, 2013, the disclosure of which is incorporatedby reference herein.

COPYRIGHT NOTICE

A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material,which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has noobjection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent documentor the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and TrademarkOffice patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyrightrights whatsoever.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a detachable footwear article,particularly pertains to a footwear article which secures a wearer'sfoot to footwear that does not have adequate support over the top of thefoot and provides aesthetic changes to the footwear at the same time.

BACKGROUND

Footwear comes in an enormous variety of styles, designs and shapes toachieve its original protective function and to satisfy fashionconscious consumers to coordinate variety of outfits and dressoccasions. Due to exquisite shoe designs or individual feet does notalways fit standard shoe size perfectly, wearers very often encounterfootwear slipping off the back of their heels when walking. Also, acontinuous slippage causes chafing and blister formation on the wearer'sheels resulting further discomfort and irritation. Therefore, there is aneed for a footwear article that affords security and comfort to thewearer, while providing a changeable aesthetic appearance to meetwearer's desire to match different outfits or dress occasions.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The objective of the present invention is to provide an article forfootwear that prevents a wearer's foot from slipping out of the footweardue to design of the footwear or the wearer's foot being slightly toosmall. The footwear article of the present invention also providesaesthetic changes to the footwear to allow matching of different outfitsand dress occasions.

In one aspect, the present invention is a footwear article that wrapsaround top of a wearer's foot and dorsal portion of footwear. In oneaspect, the present article comprises an elongated member and anaesthetic member. The elongated member comprises a first end and asecond end, and an inner surface proximal to the wearer's foot and anouter surface distal to the wearer's foot. The aesthetic membercomprises a first end and a second end, and an inner surface configuredto removably secure to said outer surface of said elongated member viaan attachment means and an outer surface distal to said elongatedmember. The first and second ends of said elongated member are joinedtogether via a connecting means, encircling the wearer's foot in thefootwear. The elongated member further comprises a length adjustingmeans for length adjustment of the present footwear article toaccommodate a range of circumferences of different sizes of foot infootwear.

In another aspect, the first and second ends of the elongated memberremovably secure to the two lateral sides of topline of footwear andwraps around the top of the wearer's foot.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a front view of the footwear article in accordancewith the present invention.

FIG. 2 illustrates a rear view of the footwear article in accordancewith the present invention.

FIG. 3 illustrates a side view of the footwear article in accordancewith the present invention.

FIG. 4 illustrates a side view of the footwear article in accordancewith another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of the elongated member witha length adjustable means of the present invention when not being worn(FIG. 5A) and being worn with the aesthetic member attached thereon(FIG. 5B).

FIG. 6 illustrates various exemplary embodiments of the aesthetic memberand attachment means of the present invention; FIG. 6A illustratesclasps as attachment means, FIG. 6C illustrates buttons as attachmentmeans and FIG. 6B and FIG. 6D illustrates hook and loop (Velcro®) asattachment means.

FIG. 7 illustrates a sheath slide on the heel of a shoe of oneembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 illustrates arrangement of the elongated member and the aestheticmember according to another embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Reference is made in detail to the presently preferred of the presentinvention, which serves to explain the principles of the invention. Theembodiments or examples disclosed herein are described in sufficientdetail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the invention, andit is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized, and thatchanges may be made without departing from the spirit of the presentinvention. Non-limiting embodiments of the present invention will beexemplarily described below with reference to the accompany drawings.

The present invention is an article for footwear called ShuSpenda™,which provides operative and aesthetic appearance functionalities tofootwear. The present invention is a detachable article for a footwearthat prevents a wearer's foot from slipping out of the footwear due todesign of the footwear or the wearer's foot being slightly too small.The footwear article of the present invention also provides aestheticchanges to the footwear to allow matching of different outfits and dressoccasions.

In one embodiment, the present footwear article comprises an elongatedmember 110 and an aesthetic member 120 (FIGS. 1-4). The elongated membercomprises a first end 111 and a second end 112, and an inner surface 113proximal to the wearer's foot and an outer surface 114 distal to thewearer's foot (FIG. 5). Referring to FIG. 6A-6D, the aesthetic membercomprises a first end 121 and a second end 122, and an inner surface 123configured to removably secure to said outer surface of said elongatedmember via an attachment means 130 and an outer surface 124 distal tosaid elongated member. The aesthetic member is configured to secure ontop of the elongated member. The aesthetic member may cover theelongated member entirely or partially.

Referring to FIG. 5, the first and second ends 111, 112 of saidelongated member are joined together via a connecting means 140 formingan enclosed loop-like configuration in order to encircle the top of afoot and dorsal portion of footwear. Depending on the types of footwear,the dorsal portion of footwear can be any one part of a counter,quarter, shank, heel or outer sole portion of footwear. The ends of saidelongated member may be joined permanently by connecting means, such asstitching and gluing or any other means as would apply by one skilled inthe art. The ends of said elongated member may be joined by separableconnecting means. In certain embodiment, the elongated member may be aone piece member or may comprise two separate pieces. In anotherembodiment, the elongated member may be worn alone without the elongatedmember. The elongated member of the present invention further comprisesa length adjusting means 150 for length adjustment of the presentfootwear article to accommodate a range of circumferences of differentsizes of foot in footwear. Examples of a length adjusting means for usein the present invention may be a cord adjuster, a buckle, a slide orany other suitable means as known in the art.

In another embodiment, referring to FIG. 7, the first and second ends111, 112 of the elongated member are linked to a sheath 160. Said sheathis hollow for insertion of the heel portion of footwear. The sheath maybe decorative and is designed to slide on to heels and to fit around theheel portion. The two ends of the elongated member may be secured tosaid sheath by permanent or separable connecting means known in the art.In one embodiment, the sheath is a semi-circular, wherein thesemi-circular sheath is positioned around the heel. In yet anotherembodiment, the sheath may be made from a bendable material to permitthe sheath to be shaped according to the shape and size of the heel. Inanother embodiment, a ring secures around the heel of footwear.

In another embodiment, the elongated member further comprises a bridgingbody. The first and second ends of the elongated member may be linked bythe bridging body. The bridging body is generally decorative of anyshapes or design. The bridging body may be a metal or non metal platewith decorative designs or logos engraved or printed thereon.

In yet another embodiment, the first and second ends of the elongatedmember of the present invention are secured to the two opposite lateralsides of the topline of footwear. The topline is a common term used inthe art referring to the periphery of the opening of the footwear wherethe foot enters.

The present invention may be worn with any types of footwear as desiredby a wearer. The footwear may be one that does not have adequate supportover the top of the foot or the wearer's feet is slightly too small forthe footwear. The present invention can be used with different types offootwear including, but are not limited to, stiletto heels, pump,wedges, mules or flats. The present invention, when being worn, wrapsaround top of the foot only or with the dorsal portion of the footwearin accordance with various embodiments of the present invention.

It should be understood that individual members or components of thepresent invention can be made of any types of materials in varioussizes, shapes, colors, designs as appropriate by those skilled in theart without departing the overall concept of the subject invention.

The elongated member and the aesthetic member may be leather, imitationleather, elasticized fabric, elasticized cord, silicone, rubber, metal,non-metal or any other types of materials. The number of types ofmaterials of the elongated member and aesthetic member is not confinedto one. A combination of two or more different materials may be usedtherein to achieve a desirable functional and aesthetic changeablefootwear article without affecting the overall concept of the presentinvention. The elongated and aesthetic members are generally long andrectangular; however, any suitable shapes, such as band, chain, ring,regular or irregular shapes can be used by one skilled in the art. Asshown in FIGS. 1-3, the elongated member is a rectangular band made offabric or a rectangular silicone band (FIGS. 2-3). The aesthetic memberis detachable and can be replaced with a desirable design (FIGS. 1 and3). FIG. 4 illustrates that the elongated member composes of acombination of two different materials (silicone band (covered byaesthetic member 120) and a metal chain 110).

The elongated member is configured to an enclosed loop-like structure toencircle the footwear and the foot in one embodiment or is configured tosecure to both opposite lateral sides of topline of a footwear inanother embodiment via the connecting means. Attachment means of thepresent invention functions to detachably anchor the aesthetic memberonto the elongated member. Attachment means and connecting means may beapplied in the present invention include, but are not limited to, hooks,buttons, snaps, Velcro®, magnets, clips, clasps, lobster clasps, rings,buckles, or any other suitable means as is known in the art. The typesof connecting or attaching means in the present invention does notconfined to one. A combination of different types of connecting andattaching means may be used depending on the elongated member andaesthetic member as would readily appreciated by a skilled artisan. Inanother embodiment, the connecting means and/or the attachment means isa clip. The clip comprises a front side and a back side, which aresecured together to form a hinge. The front and back sides may bemanufactured as a one-piece article or two integral parts. Morespecifically, the interior of the front and back sides comprise non-slipgrip surface (e.g. silicone/rubber) or any other suitable material forgripping and securing to the lateral sides of the footwear. For example,the interior of the clip may comprise complementary teeth for gripping.Furthermore, exterior of the clip or any other suitable connecting meansmay also be decorated.

In exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the elongated memberis an elasticized cord with a cord adjuster acting as a length adjustingmeans (FIG. 5A). FIG. 5B shows the present footwear article having anelasticized cord as the elongated member, a cord adjuster as connectingmeans and a removable aesthetic member attached to the elongated member.The removable aesthetic partially covers the elongated member.

FIG. 6 demonstrates various materials being used as the aesthetic memberhaving different attachment means. The aesthetic member can include twoclasps at the first and second ends thereof (FIG. 6A); two Velcro® atthe first and second ends thereof (FIG. 6B); two pairs of buttons at thefirst and second ends thereof (FIG. 6C) and a Velcro® strap along theaesthetic member entirely (FIG. 6D)

FIG. 7 illustrates the two ends of the elongated member are linked via asheath. The sheath slides on to the heel on a shoe and also plays adecorative role. A permanent ring connection arrangement is illustratedherein, however, any other types of connecting means may be used asknown by one skilled in the art.

FIG. 8 illustrates another embodiment of the present footwear article.The elongated member 110 comprises a loop at each of the first andsecond ends thereof. In this illustrative embodiment, the aestheticmember 120 is configured to threads through the loops of the elongatedmember and forms an enclosed footwear article to encircle the wearer'sfoot and the footwear via a second attachment means 170, such asVelcro®. In this exemplary embodiment, the aesthetic member is permittedto anchor onto the elongated member with or without attachment means 130as desired by one skilled in the art.

Without further elaboration, it is believed that one skilled in the artcan, based on the description herein, modify the present inventionwithout departing the spirit of the present invention and utilize thepresent invention to its fullest extend.

1. An article for footwear with heels comprises an elongated membercomprising a first end and a second end, and an inner surface proximalto a wearer of the article and an outer surface distal to the wearer;and an aesthetic member comprising a first end and a second end, and aninner surface configured to attach to said outer surface of saidelongated member via an attachment means and an outer surface distal tosaid elongated member, wherein the first and second ends of saidelongated member are joined together via a connecting means, wherein theelongated member is configured to encircle the wearer's foot and thefootwear by contacting a top of the foot and a back of a heel portion ofthe footwear.
 2. The article of claim 1, wherein said elongated memberfurther comprises a length adjustable means for flexible lengthadjustment thereof to permit said elongated member to wrap around thetop of the foot of the wearer and the back of heel portion of thefootwear and fasten to the foot and the footwear.
 3. The article of anyof claims 1, further comprises a sheath configured to position aroundthe heel of the footwear, wherein the first and second ends of saidelongated member are configured to secure to said sheath.
 4. An articlefor footwear with heels comprises an elongated member comprising a firstend and a second end, and an inner surface proximal to a wearer of thearticle and an outer surface distal to the wearer wherein the first andsecond ends of said elongated member are joined together via aconnecting means, wherein the elongated member is configured to encirclethe wearer's foot and the footwear by contacting a top of the foot and aback of a heel portion of the footwear.
 5. The article of claim 4,wherein said elongated member further comprises a length adjustablemeans for flexible length adjustment thereof to permit said elongatedmember to wrap around the top of the foot of the wearer and the back ofheel portion of the footwear and fasten to the foot and the footwear. 6.The article of any of claims 1, wherein the elongated member furthercomprises a bridging body.
 7. The article of any of claims 1, whereinsaid aesthetic member is configured to cover said elongated memberentirely.
 8. The article of any of claims 1, wherein said aestheticmember is configured to cover said elongated member partially.
 9. Thearticle of any of claims 1, wherein said elongated member is a band, achain, a cord or a combination thereof.
 10. The article of any of claims1, wherein said attachment means and connecting means comprises hooks,buttons, snaps, hook and loop, magnets, clips, clasps, lobster clasps,rings, buckles or a combination thereof.